Strings
by MessengerOfDreams
Summary: When a legendary hero and his villain are both captured, Luigi, Snake and Meta Knight must face unspeakable dangers to rescue the rescuer and kidnapper, while being accompanied by a graceful, mysterious harpist whose music Luigi hears every night.
1. Chapter 1

**If you clicked this link, you, my friend, have very good reading taste. ;)**

**Hello and welcome to my first chapter fanfiction. I have a feeling I'm gonna be proud of this one- the Green Missile needs some attention. Outside of the typical "I need to get out of Mario's shadow" or "I'm suicidal" or my favorite eyebrow-raiser, LuigiXSnake. **

**Nothing against writers of male couples of course. **

**So, yeah, I'm gonna take a completely different take on a Luigi-based fanfic here. Although there will be other accompanying stars as well.**

**Before I start, I remind you of my mission statement: I own nothing, I regret nothing. I let them forget nothing.**

**2... 1... and action!**

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_Chapter 1-Missing Persons 1 & 2._

_~Luigi's Point of View~_

I heard a harp outside of the window of my 4th story apartment. I don't know where it comes from-outside in the town square, on the rooftops, maybe even in my own delusions and imagination.

I doubt that last one. I wish my imagination could come up with such beauty.

The melodic sound captivates me. I'm drawn in, ever since the very first time I heard it playing from its mysterious perch. It's usually always the same 30 minute song, almost an orchestrated piece for one harp. And it never ceases to amaze me. I assume this person is trying to practice this routine for something, because they get better every time. Every day, for the past 2 weeks, at precisely 8:00pm, I turn my TV off, my DVR on, and I sit on the patio and overlook the city, the harp's beautiful and unique strings bending and stretching so smoothly and freely you'd think that the only thing playing them is the wind, gently brushing the strings along.

Every night I overlook the city with a human soul poured through a harp as my soundtrack.

It's been about a year now, a year since the Smash Tournaments ended. A year since I walked away with a humble 21st place. Unnoticeable, being neither good or bad. Unnoticeable doesn't really affect me the way it used to anymore. At least I can say this-I beat my brother Mario by 10 spots.

I decided after the tournament that I could live with unnoticeable. My ears deafened with the roar of crowds and the shriek of girls swooning after Ike, the Falcon Punches and Falchion Swipes both leaving me floating off the stage trying to desperately launch myself back on stage, the constant bickering between Mario and Sonic, Link and Marth, Fox and Falco, Samus and... pretty much any man who looked at her funny; those were kind of the driving forces behind my move to Mushroom City, about 100 miles away from Peach's Castle where Mario and Peach both lived.

And that's where I sat now, relaxed, hopeful and listening to a captivating symphony; a symphony by one, an audience of one.

At that moment someone knocked on the door, jarring me violently out of my thoughts. I leapt up onto my feet and quickly examined how I looked. Good grief. With my comfort clothes of a green turtleneck sweater and light beige pants, I looked like a younger Mr. Rogers with a mustache. Oh, well. Not like I was expecting a hot date.

I opened the door to see Daisy standing in front of it, a look of anxiety, however subtle, still evident on her face.

Daisy's my best friend. A sort of sister figure. While I'm collected, quiet and very easily startled, Daisy's brave, outspoken, and a loose cannon. We sort of balance each other out. She helps me loosen up a little bit and face my fears, I help her keep her temper in balance and when to relax and enjoy the view.

People have made the assumption that we're dating. Naturally, the rumors would be there when we're not, as it always seems to be. Seriously. Every time we're out, we're always asked. And it's the same response every time. Daisy shouts "No! We're NOT DATING!" and I then say "Actually, no. She's more of a sister. Good day." Like I always say, if you wanna prove their point, profusely deny it.

"Come in, Daisy." I say with a warm smile. She nods silently and takes a swift seat on the couch, jumping on it so hard she knocks some pillows up.

"Hey, Luigi." she says, with a slight smile that still doesn't shake off the anxiety her eyes betray, no matter how hard it tries. "Sorry I didn't let you know I was coming out here."

"S'all cool." I reply.

"Obviously." she says with a chuckle. "Everything is all cool with you."

I can't help but smile at that well made point. "Anyway, what brings you-"

"Do you hear that?" she asks.

I crane my neck. "Hear what?" I ask.

"That... harp." She says. Oh, that.

"Yeah, this person plays every night over around here. Really talented."

"It's... really captivating." she says. Rather profound word choice for her. I'm pleased to see that her anxiety has lifted as she enjoys the music with a peaceful smile on her face. Unfortunately, she drops it a split second later and then says "But that's not important. I came here because we sort of have an emergency."

"Regarding Princess Peach, again?" I say with a sigh. Sounds just like Mario to be one of the most heroic gods in the world and to be adored by many because of it, but to let the princess be captured right under his nose by the Mutant Ninja Turtle children of Bowser jumping out of a cake.

"Actually, no." she replies, but I know what she's thinking- _Good Guess._ "She's starting to defend herself ever since she started fighting in the tourneys."

_And doing better than Mario. _I chuckle at my legendary brother's 31st place title. "So what is it?"

"Well, she hasn't been kidnapped. But someone else has. Two people have." she explained.

"Well, if you're implying that I go after them, why me, exactly? Why not just have Mario do it?" I ask. But before Daisy can answer it, I've already figured it out. She didn't ask Mario to go after the kidnapped because-

"Mario's the one who was kidnapped." I say with a gasp of horror.

She nodded grimly.

Uncharacteristically, I blurt out a shocked "Holy shit."

This did not compute. Whatsoever. Mario's the one who saves him. As long as he's not Brawling, he's undefeated. Unstoppable. Who could have...?

"I... I'm in shock." I say, shocked.

She nodded again. "Yes. We haven't anyone to go after him except for you."

I raised my eyebrow. "Peach can't? She placed at least 15 spaces higher than Mario in the tournament."

"Leave an entire kingdom behind to rescue someone? She wishes she could, but she can't. Besides, this isn't a tournament. This is real life, real danger."

Duh. I closed my eyes and let this soak in. "So... who was the second person kidnapped."

"Well, that's what really concerns me." Daisy answered with a sigh. "The other person he kidnapped was Bowser."

Oh, okay. Wait, what? My brain record-scratched at her last statement. "Bowser?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Well, the way I see it, this guy wants the kingdom's biggest hero and worst menace out of the way. As if he wants to replace one of them; I'm thinking the latter."

"So... this guy could be worse than Bowser?"

"That's what it looks like."

"...holy shit."

"My sentiments exactly."

I sank deeper into my chair. This was a lot to process, without a shadow of a doubt. I've got to save my brother, the biggest hero in the kingdom. Not only that, but I've got to save; yes, save, the kingdom's worst enemy. And I've got to do it alone.

...or do I?

"Alrighty," I said, gathering my wits about me. "I'll go."

Daisy smiled. "Thanks, Weeg." she said as she got up and opened her arms, inviting me into a hug which I accepted.

After a few seconds, we pulled apart and she looked at me again. And I could have sworn she had a tear in her eye as she said "I can't believe I'm saying this, Luigi... but I'm really scared right now." She finished with a nervous chuckle.

I nodded. I could understand why. Fear for the kingdom, fear for Mario, fear of the unknown, fear of evil. Fear for me.

All this fear, and she isn't even the one going into battle.

Daisy grabbed me in one more hug. "I've got to go. I'm gonna be bunkering down with Peach till this all gets resolved. She's kind of freaked and I'm gonna keep her from losing her head."

"Heh, well good luck with that." I laughed.

"Yeah, sure gonna have my hands full." she said with a grin. "But, hey, so are you."

I nodded. "I sure do. Well, I guess I'll see you later then?"

"I'll see you when you come home." she replied on her way out of the door.

I smiled as she left. Scared as she can be, and she still believes that I'm gonna get it done. Well, best to not let her down, right?

* * *

The next evening, I packed a bag, a bag with nothing but a few changes of clothes, a book, a few fire flowers (that I placed in protective baggies), a toothbrush and a water bottle. With my plan I wasn't going to need to supply much.

The last of the harp's cords filled the air as I left my house through the city square. I left during the night because there was a train leaving the station at 9:05pm, but I mostly left because if there was a possibility that I didn't come back, I wanted to hear it one last time.

I looked up at my apartment building. A rather plain building, 6 stories tall, brick, a great view of the night sky. A rather cozy place. Cozy was just what I liked.

Out of curiosity, I looked up at the roof. I saw someone running off, not having seen me, and I saw an object about the size of one's torso in her hands. It looked... almost like a harp. Hmm, looks like that was them.

Off the roof, the wind blew a scarf towards me, descending lazily into the square where I stood, by the fountain. My eyes traced it until it came into my arm's reach. I leapt up and grabbed it before it could fall into the fountain.

I took it and put it in my bag. I suppose I would return it to the person when I came back. If I came back.

* * *

I departed the train at 6:15am and walked out of the Mute City terminal. This area was a far cry from the Mushroom Kingdom in distance and looks, but it was my first stop nontheless.

I was looking for a friend, a friend from the Smash tournaments. He was one of the few people I got along with rather smoothly, and I think his expertise would help me. Last time I emailed him, he was bunking with Jay Falcon, one of his good friends from the tournament, until he found a place to stay. I called Falcon earlier, and apparently my friend had moved to a new house over by the outskirts.

I went to cross the street... and nearly got mowed into the pavement by a hundred-mile an hour car passing by. Mute City. The buildings are tall, and it's damn near impossible to cross the streets. So I didn't bother, deciding to hail down a taxi. I got the first one I waved for. Not that I expected it. The guy went 60 to zero in 1 second flat. I leapt up in the air as it suddenly was parked right next to me.

Sheepishly, I got into the car and said "51144 Renault Drive."

The driver nodded, irritated for some reason. "Tourists." he muttered.

I ignored him as we sped through the city, trying to see the sights as they blurred by and also trying not to lose my lunch. I couldn't see much, just gray, tall buildings and blurs of racecars on bridges above us that went faster than I could imagine. I'd hate to be hit by one of those.

Finally, I arrived at a nice, cabin-esque house on a small court at the edge of development. 20 feet to its side was a forested hill with a trail through it. What a nice backyard. I exited the taxi with my bag, paid my fare, and watched as the taxi driver sped off, almost hitting a mailbox. In a city like this, who puts their mailboxes near the road?

But I digress.

I walked up the porch, which was a mess. You could tell that he was in the process of moving in. Cardboard boxes were strewn across the porch, some empty, some not. Cautiously, I walked up. Glancing sideways at an upside-down box, I nervously reached over and lifted it up with my foot.

Phew. Nothing.

I then rang on the doorbell and waited. Not a moment too soon, the door opened, and I saw my friend-a brown-haired man in his early 30s with a crazy 5 o'clock shadow, wearing a black ribboned bandana and black clothes. He breaks out into a grin when he sees me.

"Hey, Luigi!" he says. "What brings you here?"

I grin. "Hello, Snake." I say. "I need your help."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2-Radioactive

~Luigi's POV~

Leave it to Snake to be one of the most legendary and daring stealth soldier who walked this planet and several others, but still insist that he whip up a cup of tea that even I, who disliked tea, can enjoy heartily.

He saw my smile of content and grinned again. "You like it?" After I nodded, he added "Good. I got the method from Mei Ling."

I nodded at the mention of one of his good friends, Mei Ling, from his work with his team of... super stealth soldier people. Yeah, truth be told, I don't know much about his work, but I know some. About what every other smasher knows, and then a little bit.

"How are you settling in, David?" I asked, addressing Snake by his real name.

"Eh? Oh, yeah. Mute City. A bit fast for my tastes, but I think I could use a bit of excitement."

"You act like that's a foreign concept to you."

"Well, I haven't been to work in a year, and there doesn't seem to be much need for our assistance right now. I need something to do."

"Like, say, seeing if you can cross the street without getting run over? That's a gambling game right there."

Snake grinned again. "Haha, exactly! Anyway," he added as he set his cup of tea on his old cherry coffee table, "You said you needed my help with something, right? Let's hear it."

I set my own tea down after sipping the last traces of it and cleared my throat. "Well, you said you wanted some adventure just now, right?"

He looked around, for some reason, and then gave me a slight grin, eyebrow raised. "I'm all ears."

Yes. I got him. "Well, there's sort of an emergency in the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario and Bowser have both been kidnapped."

He looked at me intently, dubiously. "You serious?"

I nodded, with a gulp I couldn't keep down.

"Oh, okay." he said, lightening his gaze. "Wow. Mario... and Bowser. That's just a skullscrewer right there."

"What it means is that both our biggest hero and villain are kidnapped. There's either a greater good or evil out there and considering they kidnapped Mario, I'm going to say the latter."

"So, you want to fight a greater evil... than Bowser?" Snake asked me.

I nodded. "I'm not exactly easy about it either. And it's not exactly a 'want', either."

"Of course," he replied. "But, either way, I'm in."

"Great." I gave a thumbs up and a grin.

"No problem, dude." He replied. "Anyway, where are we heading?"

At that moment my hand dropped into my lap and my eyes bugged a little. Why in the bloody love of hell did I not even get that worked out?

"...I...I'm gonna ask Daisy." I replied, in a bit of a stutter. Snake just laughed his way into a sigh. I instantly got my phone out and dialed her number, wondering if I was going to get an answer that I should have asked the very first day.

About 2 seconds later, she picked up. Either she has ninja-like reflexes or her phone's always glued to her hand, because she answers her phone quicker than any human should. Before I can even take a breath, she starts with "Hey, Weeg, whatcha need?"

"Oh, hey, Daisy." I start. "Uh, I actually do have a question."

"All ears,"

"Okay, uhm... where the hell are we supposed to go again?"

Daisy started laughing hard, and I heard something drop in the background.

"...Dais?"

"Oh my god, Luigi, I'm so sorry about that!" she giggled. "I totally meant to tell you before I left. Peach actually hired a crew of Bandits to find their way to Bowser's castle and try to trace the kidnapper. They haven't seen him but they did find a mean-looking army that seemed to be heading towards Hazy Maze Cave. I can't give you a solid answer but that seems to be where they're heading."

"Alrighty, thanks Dais."

"No problem, Weeg. Good luck!" she finishes. "Oh, and tell Snake I said hi."

"Okay, I wi- wait, how'd you know I was here?" I asked, mouth slightly agape.

She laughs again and said "Oh, Weeg, you're so predicatble, that's how. I'll see you when you get back!"

"Alright, see you when I get back." I reply as I shut my flip-phone, and see Snake grinning at me for, what, the eighth time since I got here? I could tell he was wholly amused.

I sigh and say "She's crazy."

Snake chuckled and said "Anyway, where are we heading?"

"To the Hazy Maze Caves." I reply. "They're about 100 miles north of Bowser's Castle in his kingdom, about a thousand or so away from here."

"Okay, so when do we leave?" he asks. "I've gotta pack some stuff together to use to fight with, but other than that, I'd say we're good to go."

"Well, there's one other person I want to get." I add before he can go get started.

"Oh, really?" he asks me, slightly dubious. "Who'd you have in mind?"

"I want to get Meta-Knight on board." I respond.

"Really?" he said, now completely dubious. "Why him? I'm not even sure if he's a villain, a hero, or someone who gives a damn."

"Well, it's a gamble, but he completely dominated us in the tournaments." I point out.

"Hey, I did good in the tournaments, too." he grumbles. "I came in second, didn't I?"

"Yeah, sure, but let's not fool ourselves, none of us had a chance against him." I argue. It's true, too. None of the other top 5 could hold a candle to the small, mysterious warrior. (Much to Falco's eternal jealousy and disdain.)

"I'll admit that much is true." Snake replies.

"He's also very skilled with a sword," I add, "and he's got a ship."

Snake broke out into another grin, I'm starting to lose count, and said "You, sir, had me at ship."

"Well, that settles that, then." I say. "I reckon we should head over to where he lives."

"Where does he live, again?"

"Last I heard from Kirby, he lives in the Halberd right outside of Kanto City in the Pokemon's Province." I reply.

"That's strange," Snake notes, "Why does he live there?"

"Do you expect me to know?" I answer his question with a question. "We don't even know what that guy's face looks like."

He nods in reply. "Good point. I'm going to go pack up now."

"You do that," I reply as I stand up and walk towards the kitchen, aiming to get a glass of water. I slump against the sink. Good god, I'm already weary of this quest, and it hasn't even started yet. I take the glass, and my eyes start to droop a bit. Annoyed, I throw the glass of water at my face to wake me up. It works somewhat, and also succeeds in soaking Snake's counter and hand towels.

While I'm shaking water out of my hair, that's when I hear it. The first notes of a harp, playing an all-too-familiar tune. Acting by my first instincts, I start to fill up another glass of water, but decide that instead, I was going to act.

I bolted towards the door, only stopping to grab the scarf, and I run outside. I run around the house, putting my training in Parkour to good use. All 3 weeks of it. I looked around the entirety of the roof, but no one was there. Agh. This harpist is the real skullscrewer.

I continued to follow the sound around the house until, suddenly, it stopped. And the next thing I heard was a _thud._ The next thing I saw was a figure, the same figure, bolting away. I made a quick attempt to get a good look. All I noticed is that this figure was rather tall, wore a sort of jumpsuit, and had ashy blond hair. And from what I could tell, definitely female.

Suddenly, Snake appears behind me, and I jump so high I nearly hit my head on clouds. Or at least it feels like this. I've a reputation for being a notoriously high climber; much more so than my brother Mario "Jumpman" Segali. Ironic how life turns out, isn't it?

"Well, did you enjoy your little run?" he asks, amused. I seem to amuse him too much.

"Yeah, sure." I say with a weary sigh.

"Well, I'm packed." he says nonchalantly, referring to his bag...

...in which he has 5 grenades, a grenade launcher, a large gun I couldn't identify, some C4 explosives and a little camera type thing that looked like a parachute; how the hell Snake managed to fit his entire special moveset into a bag of any size, I have no clue.

"One normal gun wouldn't do just fine?" I asked incredulously.

"You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, Luigi." he says as he lifts it up. "So, to the train?"

"Yeah, to the train." I said.

"Well, forget that, cause I got us a ride." Snake grinned, again.

"Oh, good-wait. Oh... hell no... hell no... just... no."

**Author's Corner**

**Hello all! I decided that I'm going to keep author notes at the bottom of the chapter to avoid a huge wall of text that people ignore to get to the chapter. This chapter was rather short, but with good reason-I planned to make Chapters 2 and 3 only chapter 2, but it became a huge wall of text that took up 5,000 words. Almost as long as _Words and Action. _So you get chapters 2 and 3 both today! :)**

**Anyway, I wanted to let you guys know something that may contribute to any mistakes in my story. I'm sorry to admit that I am not very versed in video games, at all really. Mario and Super Smash Brothers pretty much made up my whole repertoire of game knowledge through my life. (I also went 6 years without Nintendo because my dad got into Xbox racing games.) So since I'm involving other dimensional characters, I may slip up despite Wiki research. I have a Gamecube now so when budget allows I plan on getting Metroid Prime, and then a Zelda Game as a start. **

**Also, a bit of extra trivia, every chapter name is named after a song I love, and may branch out to lines from a song. If you can guess what they are, you get a cookie. If you love that song, you get a cake. Which is not a lie-I am a very honest person.**

**Enjoy chapter 3, my friends!**

**MoD**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3-Don't Let Me Fall

~Luigi's POV~

"Uh, actually, I don't think we'll be needing your assistance, Jay."

"Come on, I insist!" Falcon replied from his helmet, not about to give up without a fight. "I'll get you there in no time, no problem!"

_No time, no problem._ Read that as _You'll be slammed by G-force deep into your seat as I go 300 miles per hour, and as an added bonus you'll be so damn sick to your stomach the very sight of a convenience store burrito will have you barfing all over the counter. _But, hey, that's just what I gathered from past experience.

"Hey, Weeg, chill." Snake tells me. "Jay'll get us there faster than any train could hope to."

"That's exactly what I'm worried about." I say, deadpan and oozing monotone.

"Isn't time supposed to be of the essence here, Luigi?" Snake asks, a bit tersely. "Considering that your brother is in possession of a force worse than your worst nightmare?"

Falcon awkwardly scooted away from the two of us. I swear to God, he was whistling, too.

I know I'm really being deadpan about this situation, but who the hell in their right mind ever whistles to get people to think that they're not paying attention? I think around the 700th time that was in a movie or TV show we got the clue.

"Fine," I growl at Snake. And at Falcon "Just try not to kill any wildlife on the way, alright?"

"Oh, come on!" he rolls his eyes. "That deer ran right in front of my car!"

I don't bother arguing. Seeing as it'd be easier to argue with a rock about the sky being green instead of blue.

Or arguing with Samus about men being decent people.

I swear to god, I do not exaggerate when I say it took us 2 hours to get to Kanto City. Which is 500 miles away. As I unsteadily walk out the door of the car with my bag in hand, I feel as if I could swear off food like it's Lent.

"Hey, thank you, Jay." Snake says as he, seemingly unaffected by the insane ride, hops out of the car with his bag of imminent death. Probably the reason he didn't want to go on the train, considering security would take a collective crap in their pants upon seeing it.

I mutter something a lot coarser and similar-sounding to Snake's statement under my breath, but manage to nod to Jay as he good-naturedly grins and gets back in his car. "Good luck!" he calls as he zooms away.

I look over the empty field of ferns and wheat that lays before us on the outskirts of Kanto, and across the field to another one with a giant flying battleship in the middle of it.

"Well, here we are." I say.

"Really?"

"...shut up."

The Halberd. It commanded respect. And I imagine if that cannon was pointed at you, you'd damn well give it. I always wondered why such a small person would need a large. jaw-dropping battleship. But best not to ask.

I walk up to the edge, and, not knowing what to do, knocked on the cannon. A minute passed, and then slowly, a door opened on the side and a ramp extended out of the door, lowering mechanically to us. And then out walked Meta Knight. In all his caped, mysterious glory. I'm serious, the guy has a definite revered intimidation factor. He looked at us, with his yellow eyes, and I had no clue what he was thinking, as those were the only things on his face that I could see.

"Visitors." he said in a smooth, deep voice. "Unexpected. What brings you here?"

"We're, uh, here on a very important cause." I say.

Meta did nothing but stare at me some more. But then he said, his voice betraying no emotion "Follow me." And he disappeared into the ship.

Snake entered the ship, unnerved since he had probably been in ships like this before. I gulped, my nerves getting to me, and ran up the ramp into the ship.

I was a little surprised to see that the immediate inside of the ship was nicely decorated, or at least as nicely decorated as you could expect from Meta Knight. Everything was black, except for the fireplace that probably operated on fuel. Black couch, black chair, black coffee table, black bookshelves with books that ironically consisted of black books except for a few. He motioned to the couch as he took a seat in the large chair. "Have a seat." he said, halfway between an offer and a command.

I gladly took a seat on the couch, settling in. Snake set his bag down and followed.

"So what brings two of my former competitors to my humble ship?" Meta asks.

_Humble?_ I think. "Humble?" I chuckle.

"In some ways, I suppose." he replies simply.

Snake spoke up, apparently more mission-focused than I am. "We've got a big situation in the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario's been kidnapped, and so has Bowser."

Meta chuckles. "I'm not surprised. The two could barely fight. Pathetic."

This raises my hackles. "Hey, don't you dare talk about Mario about that. He may not have been up to par with tournament fighting but he's been holding our kingdom together back when you were just a blue Cocoa Puff. He's defeated monsters and horrid creatures of every sort while you bide your time deciding whether to fight or friend a gumball. If Mario's being kidnapped, you can sure as hell count on your fruity little world being fucked up next."

As soon as I say those words, I find myself stifling a gasp. I can't believe I just chewed out Meta Knight like that. Nor can I believe I just used the F word for... the 7th time in my life? Secretly, though, I felt a bit proud that I could stick up to him.

To my relief, Meta Knight chuckled again. "I never would have guessed that you would have such a spark in you, Luigi Segali." he speaks. "Bravery like yours is needed if this journey that I am sure will take place is to succeed."

I grin ever so slightly.

"However," Meta finishes sternly, "I will thank you to not address me in this manner again." I had a feeling that when said that _He _would thank me, he meant that _The_ _Galaxia _would thank me.

Snake got back on topic with a laser-quick glare at me. "The point is, we have a feeling that there's an evil worse than Bowser threatening the Mushroom Kingdom, and having gotten both the hero and the villain out of the way, there's no stopping him."

"How do we know this entity is evil and not good?" Meta asked us.

"Would a hero also kidnap the greatest hero in the land? That's not anywhere near good-intentioned."

"Touche." Meta sighs, obviously annoyed at being outsmarted. "And I suppose you want me involved because-"

"You have a ship and you've won the tournament by a landslide?" Snake interrupted.

Meta growled, quietly but all the more menacing because of it. "I will request that you do not interrupt me again."

Snake shut the hell up, fast.

"What I meant to say is that you need someone to help you before this spreads to other parts of our world, such as Pop Star's colony, Mute City, Kanto itself, Hyrule Kingdom, and Lylat's colony here. Just to name a few. And if it does spread, you need someone to fight it that will most likely not be kidnapped. Since I neither fit the role of hero or villain."

Uhm... wow. 5 minutes in and he's got a more cohesive plan than we had, by far. "Uh, we'll go with that." I reply lamely.

I hear him mutter "Fools" under his breath.

I try small talk. "What brought you to settle down here by Kanto City anyways, Meta?"

For a sliver of a second, I saw his eyes widen, with what I can determine as surprise. Then he composes himself and says "I never had a set goal in mind. I noticed the miles of empty field around this area, and I must say its beauty stunned me. It was so desolate, but so composed. This was a place I knew I wanted to make my home." He looked over his shoulder out the window where a faint amount of light came in and says "I suppose my giant metal ship sticks out like a corporate office in the forest depths, but I think I've managed to keep the beauty of this area alive respectably."

He looks around his ship and with a bit of pride, says "Besides, I must say in its own way, the Halberd is quite stunning."

I nodded in agreement, although my definition of stunning in this case was probably different than his.

"Going by the age-old philosophy that time is of the essence, I suppose we should make haste to leave now? Or as soon as time allows?" Meta asks.

I nod. "I suppose. We should map out a route, though."

"Do we have the slightest clue of where this entity resides?" is his immediate response.

"From what the kingdom's sources say, we should look near the Hazy Maze Caves, which is about 100 miles into Bowser's side of the kingdom." I reply. "Nothing definite, but a good start at the very least."

"Then that is where we will head." Meta Knight says. "I will head up to the head of the ship. I will kindly request that you stay here and I will alert my crew to take off."

"Your crew?" I ask, for some reason not expecting this. "You have a crew?"

For the first time I remember, Meta Knight laughs. Not menacing chuckles, but a hearty laugh. "You confound me, Luigi. Do you honestly believe I run this ship myself? No, I have a large crew of Waddle Dees who work with me to keep this ship running. They also live here with me in their own quarters." He sighs. "Not that you'd ever know it. We live separate lives and I usually request my own peaceful isolation. When we aren't running, we usually fend for ourselves. I did use to have a crew of knights on board instead... that was awhile back though, back when I was actually fighting."

He immediately starts a new conversation, speaking after himself with "Anyway, I figure I should have a course set post-haste, although from memory I can say we will be flying over the rest of the Pokemon province and most likely the whole of Hyrule's Kingdom before we reach the Mushroom Kingdom. If memory serves me correct, the Caves are towards the north side of the kingdom, where Bowser currently rules. The flight should take about 9 hours. I trust, or more likely, can tell that you've packed a lot of weapons, Snake, and trust someone as competent" this word was said with a small hint of spite "as Luigi will have at least, say, a Fire Flower on them?"

_Wha-shu-bu-ka-mu-do-whaaaa? _My brain was on haywire. Meta Knight's competence level was light years above the both of us combined... with Lucario and Zelda. Everything he said, intended or not, made you feel like a first grader.

I just nodded.

"Then all is well. I have my sword, cape, and if needed, a Waddle Dee army. We should be well armed, although we cannot expect perfection." he says. "Now I must go, but do make yourselves comfortable. I do not mind if you read my books, and I do have spare quarters nearby down the hall on your way out of the living quarters. Please don't exit the quarters unless absolutely necessary."

He nodded towards us as he started walking out. Snake, looking around the room disappointed, asked Meta "Do you have a TV somewhere in here?"

Meta Knight looked at Snake for a few seconds shook his head with an incredulous sigh and exited the door of the living quarters.

"...guess not."

Liftoff was amazing. I've been in the Mushroom Kingdom's airships before, whether as a passenger or intruder, and they were nice in themselves, so the idea of flying through the sky isn't news to me. But this was like being in a rocket ship, only flying horizontally. The ship's engines started in unparalleled power and we gradually picked up speed through the sky, only it was smooth and I felt no G-Force, despite the fact that we were probably going faster than Captain Falcon could dream of flying and than Sonic could dream of running.

Around 5 hours later, I was still deep into my book, and was turning pages every so often with absolutely no thought of the outside world. It's an odd feeling; you're in a whole new world, but only as a passerby. Your own life is put on temporary hold as you watch others live their exciting lives. I find it so interesting how one of our favorite past times is watching other people live, whether on TV, movies or in books. But I'm not complaining.

Me being so deep into my book, it came as a massive jolt to hear Meta Knight's voice over the intercom system.

"Gentlemen, may I have your attention?"

"About time." Snake looked up in anticipation.

"Whoa God we have intercom?" was my response.

"I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that we've just passed the border between Hyrule and the Mushroom Kingdom. Our Estimated Time to Arrival is about 3 hours. I'm glad to say that we are going faster than usual, so we're making good time as hoped." was the announcement.

I smiled. Good news, I suppose. Nerve wracking to be so close already though.

"I would suggest that you take some time for some mental preparation," he continues. "Since we do not know the caliber of this battle, I myself would take some time out to get my thoughts and energy together. I am, however flying the ship but I think I shall do fine. I wish you gentlemen the best of luck." Then the intercom buzzed off.

"Sounds like a plan," Snake nodded. "I haven't meditated in ages. Now's as good a time to start as ever."

I nodded in agreement and went to one of the personal quarters and shut the door. I set my bag on the floor, laid on my bed and started to pray. I pray regularly, I just don't know who I am praying to. I guess I'm praying to the hopes that something will happen.

Right when I start, I hear a sudden shaking within the ship. I jolt up onto my feet and start looking around in worry. After a couple seconds of shaking, it stops and we're flying smoothly. I sigh with relief.

Until it shakes again, this time tilting on its side by a 45 degree angle. And this time it doesn't stop for a full minute. Then it unsteadily straightens out.

I look out the small window to see if everything is cool, and it sure as hell isn't. Smoke is coming out rapidly from just above a wing. I start to get really worried, but the pilot is Meta Knight. He should have this under control.

Then the ship shakes again. A Waddle Dee runs through the door and tells us with a strong overtone of urgency "The ship might crash! It isn't looking good, not at all." He hands me a backpack. "Take these parachutes. If needed we'll open the side door, and you'll have to jump."

I took the backpack and nervously put it on, and I grab my bag as well. I run out to the living room and I take a seat in the couch; at the moment, what else can I do? I see Snake has a parachute as well. He looks a bit worried, but he's probably pretty used to this.

Suddenly, the ship starts to spin. No longer content with tilting, we're doing barrel rolls like we're in a Landmaster. I grab my bag with a deathgrip; if we do crash, I don't want to be caught without my other clothes, book and fire flowers. Not if we're going to be at least 300 miles away from the Caves, and traveling primarily on foot. I tumble through the ship as it spins, bouncing off the walls, into flying books, and narrowly dodging large furniture.

That's when I hear the intercom. For a split second I wonder how on earth he got it to work. I deduce that he used his wings, not easily seen, to float through the mess and then I deduce that it's not important.

"Everyone on the ship!" he yells, his voice steady but with a trace of fear. "I urge you to try to open the door and jump out with the parachutes! This ship will not land well, and you shall not go down with it! Don't worry about me, I will find a way to escape, and if I do not, then at least you will have!"

The intercom stops, and I try to make my way over to the door. It's not going to be an easy feat, but I try to bounce over there, throwing my body off the walls in order to make my way over there. Snake follows in an effort to help and make an easy escape. I spot a line of Waddle Dees lining up to follow us at the first opportunity.

Finally, I grabbed the latch, and forced it open. The ship started to roll sideways, forcing us out. We were about 500 feet above ground so out of nerves I open my parachute immediately. Snake follows suit, as expected.

I look above me, hoping the Waddle Dees are to follow. To my relief, I see one of them nearing the door.

But before he can, to my everlasting horror, the ship crashes so hard into the sand below, it leaves a crater in the soft surface. I know that no one in the ship was braced for impact. The ship starts to burn with fire, sealing their fate.

I just witnessed the death of a large crew of hundreds of innocent Waddle Dees. And probably Meta Knight as well. I fell to my knees in horror. How did this happen? I look up and I see the horrendous sandstorm above us, obscuring my vision, the wind unbearably harsh. That explains that.

I look around the wreckage, and all I can wonder is "What the hell do we do now?" I turn to my right, and that's when I see him.

Well, really, all I can see is a cape. A cape that seems to completely cover him like a blanket would. I run through the sand, the wind trying to restrain me but I fight it off. Again, Snake follows me.

Snake taps him on the shoulder and asks "My god, are you okay?"

Meta Knight responds by getting up to his feet. I breathe a sigh of relief.

All Meta can do is walk from the wreckage, and when he's a suitable distance away, he stands there. Looking at his burning ship as the sandstorm dies down. He says nothing, but I know what his thought is. _How did this happen? _His home was destroyed, his beloved ship, and every one of his loyal crew; no Waddle Dees survived.

I imagine their dead bodies, unprepared for a crash, burning up in the ship, never to be recovered or buried.

The image is heart wrenching. I try desperately to think of fluffy kittens.

After 5 minutes of watching Meta Knight's unusual way of coping with grief, he turns to us and says "I will admit this tragedy has hit me hard. However, more people and creatures may die if we don't stop this menace."

He lifts up Galaxia again and says "Luigi, would you mind telling me where we are?"

It's night out, and I'm bone-cold. The sandstorm is over but has left me covered in the mineral. I unzip my bag and pull out my jacket. Teal, large and hooded. I put it on, observe my surroundings and come to my conclusion.

"We're in the Dry, Dry Desert."

**Author's Corner**

**I pat myself on the back for my characterization of Meta Knight. I think I'm going to enjoy writing him, probably because he's a character style I usually don't write. I think somewhere down the line we'll get a POV from him.**

**Also, Snake I'm going to make sure to put a little more effort into him. He's cool, but I don't think I utilized him this chapter as much as I should have. But I still think I did good.**

**Also, if that F-Bomb was unexpected and a bit annoying since it was so, I would like to let you know that I will be very sparing with language. Weaker words like _Hell _or _Damn _might be a little more common, but F-Bombs should be extremely rare.**

**Chapter 4 should be released next week at the latest. I'm expecting a chapter every Wednesday-Thursday (I almost finished yesterday) but I may get eager and breeze through it sooner.**

**Eagerly expect Chapter 4! **

**MoD**

**P.S. Thanks, everyone for your amazing reviews on both my stories! They make me so giddy sometimes. XD Especially rereading them after finishing Mockingjay (and trying not to cry. -_-)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4-Dust Bowl Dance**

~Snake's POV~

So here we are in this desert. This Dry, Dry Desert. And strangely, I feel at home. Or, somewhat. This seems like a place that'd be familiar to me, only I've never been here, this I know for a fact. But it feels like a place I'd be performing my best at.

Or maybe I'm just tired.

Tired or not, Luigi says that we should walk a few miles to the desert despite it being nighttime, just to get a head start. I start to question his judgment, but not even a second after I open my mouth, I understand his hidden reasoning. He wants to get the hell away from the ship. Makes sense, so do I. And I haven't a sliver of a doubt in my head that Meta Knight wants to as well. He's far into the lead when we start walking, before Luigi can even designate a direction. Luigi shrugs and follows the spherical mystery, who probably has a better sense of direction than Luigi does at the moment-after all, he was the one behind the ship's wheel, and the map.

I start to follow the two, trying to make up lost time. To pass the walking time amid the silence, I try to observe my surroundings. It's sort of habit by now after all these years. This time, I try to entertain myself with the activity. Unfortunately, there's pretty much nothing interesting. At all. It's like watching a screensaver, and I almost question if we're going in circles.

It's almost a total shock when I see birds flying into my view. I grin and say "Hey, guys, check it out." I point at the flock of white birds above us and say "It looks pretty awesome, doesn't it?"

Meta Knight looks up, his eyes widening. "Rather so," is his reply.

Luigi just tells us a surprising "Guys, we gotta jet. Now."

"Why, Luigi?" I ask, still entranced by the flock.

"Because," he says, and I hear fear in his voice "these birds are called Goonies, and they're some of the most dangerous carnivores in the kingdom."

Oh shit.

Needing no further persuasion, we started to run as fast as we could across the sands, or in Meta's case, fly. But we're facing dangerous birds that can fly, while Luigi and I can't. And even Meta doesn't seem to be much faster than the damn things, if faster at all.

So running's out. Looks like it's time to take action.

"Showtime."

I drop to the ground, put my bag down, and as fast as I can, unzip it, grab out my gun and just start going berserk. With reckless abandon and precise aim, I start picking off the birds. They start falling to the sky, to my relief.

Some start coming behind me. With reflexes of a stealth soldier, I jump around, shooting it right before it goes in to take a bite out of my neck. Smugly, I grin as a group of them flies away.

"Well, that takes care of that." I say as I start to pack up my weapons again.

Luigi simply points behind me. I look back and my eyes widen.

"Give me a break, will you?"

I scared away about 20 birds. They brought about 200 more. No more pussyfooting around a gun anymore. I dig into my bag more and bring out my grenade launcher.

"Now it's really showtime."

I know I'm only going to have to use one grenade-I'd like to make these last. So to everyone's surprise, I wait. Luigi's shouting for me to do something for Christ's sake and even Meta Knight's looking at me incredulously, pointing with his sword to the birds. I simply turn back with a confident smirk. Granted, if I kill us all I'm going to feel like a real ass, but I'm willing to bet the farm on this.

All 200 birds swerve together in a sort of V, and then they start to divebomb at me. Luigi's digging in his packet for a fire flower, seeing as I look like an incompetent, but I hold up a hand. When they get close enough, that's when I fire.

There's an explosion, and a giant flash of light, and the next thing I know, the sky is clear. I'm surprised for a second that I managed to scare them all away.

Then I look around me. Holy Grandmother of Christ.

All along the ground, near me, are ashes. I mean, you could build a dune out of it and add it to the sand dunes here. It's really morbid. I look out even further, and then my eyes bug.

It takes a lot to surprise me, but if you saw at least 50 dead, non-charred birds surrounding you, you'd probably stand there, jaw-dropped, wondering what twisted Hitchcock warp zone you stepped into. Did I really kill all those birds?

"Did I really kill all those birds?"

When I didn't hear an answer, it came to me that I should try to find Luigi and Meta. God knows what happened to them after... whatever the hell just happened here. I start looking around, and I see Luigi, thrown to the ground, eyes wide open in shock. Meta simply sits there, looking about normal. Luigi looked at me and gasped out "What in God's name did you [i]do?"[/i]

"I launched a grenade at them." I say matter-of-factly.

"Holy hell... are you mad? This... this is insane." he seems in shock. Good lord help me I screwed over the leader.

"I agree with you." I groan, pulling him to his feet. "But environmentalists can complain to me later. We almost died there." I start walking, pick up one of the unburnt birds and say "Well, we have dinner at least. Go on another mile?"

Luigi nodded mirthlessly and we set off again.

We don't go much further than that. We go for about 30 minutes, when we're sure that we were away from that graveyard of birds. Hell, I've got enough ghosts haunting my life that I most certainly don't need to add a couple hundred birds to it. When we find a decent enough place, we set our stuff down- me my giant bag of stuff and the bird, Luigi his suitcase, and Meta Knight his sword, cradled gently to the ground.

I take a seat, stretch my arms and legs, sore from the night, and say "Well, Luigi, you brought us a tent or two, right?"

Luigi looked at me blankly and said "You mean in that giant bag of stuff, you didn't bring a tent?"

"I thought you handled it." I mutter, exasperated and a bit humiliated.

"I thought **you** handled it!" his voice is a shout of disbelief in contrast to mine. "You're the outdoors guy, the stealth agent!"

"My idea of a tent usually composes of a cardboard box." I hiss. "I need to hide after all."

"A cardboard box in the middle of the jungle? Are you really that incapable?"

Dammit, he got me there. "Well we didn't even plan for a tent, we expected to be able to fly there on that goddamn ship."

"Yeah, well that worked out fan-flipping-tastic, didn't it?"

"I give up." I mutter. "Hey, Meta Knight, you got anything for shelter?"

I only get a grumble as a response from him, completely covered by his cape, clearly not wanting to get in on our argument.

I don't even know why the hell I asked him.

At the very least I spot a dead tree. I walk over, snap off a large branch and a smaller, sharper one more reminiscent of a spear, and bring them back over to our base camp. Getting out a lighter, I set the edge on fire and watch as the spark morphs into a fire. Not anywhere near Boy Scout material, but enough to cook the bird. I take the leaner stick, jab it through the bird and start to roast it over the fire like a marshmallow. Absentmindedly, I let it cook slowly as I just sit there, dead to the world. I may as well be asleep.

When I notice unconsciously that the bird is cooked enough, I take it out from above the fire and look it over. I know for a fact I did a piss-poor job at it. The feathers are still on it in some places, although most of them have burnt off or drifted away. The meat of the bird was burnt in some places and near raw in others. Certainly no cover piece for Better Homes and Gardens. But it's not like I was trying to please Tom Colicchio.

I take my pocket knife out of my bag and start cutting up pieces of the meat for us to eat. I hand an ugly-looking piece to Luigi, who sets his book down. I look at the book and roll my eyes. Tent? No. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo? Yes. His priorities are certainly to be praised.

Meta Knight looks up to see that the bird is ready. He accepts a piece and nods his thanks. I carve off one more piece for me and start eating. Upon my first bite I shudder. This certainly isn't the worst thing I've ever had but I knew I wasn't going to enjoy it. Unsteadily I start to finish the piece in dead silence. You could hear a cricket chirping in Altea, it was that quiet.

I finish my food and, having nothing better to do, got out my sleeping bag and got ready for bed, or as close as one could get in the desert. Not going to protect me from the cold winds but at least I'll be somewhat warm. Luigi sighed as he got out a single blanket and wrapped up in it, using his suitcase as a pillow and closing his eyes, shivering in the cold. I had less than no sympathy for him right now.

I got into my sleeping bag and closed my eyes. I was out in less than 5 minutes.

And then I woke up.

When I woke up was in the middle of night. Where I woke up was in a cold sweat in an even colder desert. How I woke up was screaming. Why I woke up was because I was still being haunted by ghosts of my past.

After I try to clear my head of the negativity of my dreams, I take a quick look around and see that Luigi was still asleep. Hard sleeper, that guy. During the tournament, we were sent to stay at a nice hotel in the middle of Intersection City during the month so I should know. Intersection City acts as the sort of capitol of our world, and although not all of the nations and kingdoms touch the large city of several million, each nation has a stake hold in the city, and it's where their leaders all meet every year to discuss their interactions, plans and other exchanges with each other concerning their lands and other such things. Some of the fighters in our tournament are actually rulers and leaders of their land, such as Princess Peach and Bowser.

_Bowser,_ I thought. _Such a dangerous creature. _What makes him so intimidating though is not just his large stature and numerous sharp spikes lined around him. It's that he's a very good ruler of his kingdom. Everyone was under the assumption that since he was a villain that he obviously treated his people like scum. As I would come to hear from Prince Marth, a friend from the tournament, Bowser's passion was in his people, and his people's passion their leader and nation. While people would only see Goombas and Koopas thrown out all over the placed forced to kill Mario for Bowser, the reality was that they were a dedicated group of soldiers willing to fight for the king of their people and for a better life for their people. Bowser did the best he could for his citizens.

And how could he not? The Koopa Kingdom was born out of Civil War in the Mushroom Kingdom. It was common knowledge that Koopas and Goombas and other such creatures were treated unfairly in the Kingdom, and that 30 years ago Bowser led a revolution against the current king, a revolution that turned into a war; the Koopas and Goombas against the humans and other citizens. After 3 years, however, the two sides were at a stalemate. In an effort to stop the war, the king agreed to giving a portion of his kingdom to Bowser's side after the loyal citizens were evacuated. Bowser accepted the land and was anointed king of it.

The two sides left each other alone for awhile until the Mushroom King died and his only child, Peach, took the throne. She was adamant about not letting Bowser intimidate them out of their own land. She started to lead efforts to reclaim their land, which enraged Bowser and he kidnapped her for the first time. And so the story we all know began.

That was what was so scary about Bowser is that he wasn't fighting selfishly or doing evil selfishly. He had an entire kingdom as motivation. And he was willing to do every deviant act in the book to win for them. That's not to say that he wasn't underhanded, vicious, hateful or even evil.

There's one thing I can't quite understand. Why kidnap both Bowser and Mario? The whole mess was confusing. If only Mario was captured then Bowser'd have a lot easier of a time finishing off the Mushroom Kingdom. If Bowser's captured, then all Peach has standing in her way of reclaiming her land is his 6 little turtle brats, or 7, I don't remember. But if you kidnap them both, then what? It's like capturing the king on the black side of the chess board and the bishop on the white. Obviously without the king the black would fall, but without the bishop the black rook has a straight shot at the king, with nowhere for it to hide. What is this kidnapper planning? There's so many possibilities, but I haven't a clue.

But it certainly is an interesting lesson in history and politics.

And it's certainly an interesting lesson of where your mind will wander when you let it. I shake my head clear of these thoughts and try to focus on... not thinking about anything. I climb all the way back into my sleeping bag and looked around me one last time before I close my eyes.

And open them again. Where the hell's Meta Knight?

I look around, suddenly alarmed. I leap out of my sleeping bag and start to search. But it's not like he could be hidden anywhere nearby.-it's all sand.

Man, this is bad. What if he left us? I know that someone like him would be frustrated to have to work with idiots like Luigi and I, especially after this evening. I shake my head. He's not that type of man, he's too dedicated to all that stuff like Honor and such things. That just gets me more worried- what if he was attacked? Could more Goonies have swept down on him? Or another type of monster, or maybe even a bandit- the possibilities are-

_Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh_

I turn around and then I see Meta Knight, flying down from the sky employing use of his wings, looking at me quizzically from behind his mask.

"Snake." he says, hesitantly. "I... I apologize, I thought you were asleep." He finishes landing and takes a seat. "I hope I didn't worry you with my absence. I find it's nice at night to take a flight, to clear my head."

I nod, smiling a little. "Sounds fair enough. No problem." I crawl back into my sleeping bag and say "Good night, Meta." as I close my eyes.

"Same to you, Snake." he says, his voice seeming a bit... lackluster in its usual confidence. But who am I to judge?

I lay there, eyes closed, trying to will myself to sleep. It was one of those nights, ones where sleep tells you that you had your chance and then leaves you when you first wake up like a scorned wife meeting a mistress. Ugh, I'm too tired to make decent analogies, why can't I sleep still?

About 30 minutes in, that's when I hear it. It's a muffled sound, and I can barely hear it. But I do. I can't tell what it is at first, but I start studying it. It sounds like a moan, a small one, broken up into several, and it was hard to tell that it was one. But it was. And the more I listened to it the more I realized what it was. It was crying. Someone was crying. It was soft, betraying little emotion other than sadness, but it did betray a feeling of loss.

Meta Knight, the indomitable, stoic warrior, was crying.

I didn't know how to feel about that. It made me feel hopeless, sympathetic, pensive, and somewhat relieved to know that there was a true soul behind that mask. I felt that if Meta Knight lost hope then we were all going to fall, and I felt ambient in this feeling. My pain from the past was resurfacing-no particular moments, but everything. The so-called adventures I had taken. Shadow Moses, Zanzibar, Foxhound-I could swear my life started flashing before my eyes. I put my hands over my ears, closed my eyes and started to block the world out as I slowly drifted into a sleep I knew was going to be riddled with nightmares.

**Author's Corner**

**If it was obvious that I'm still learning about Snake through Wikis and stuff, then... well, bear with me. It's rather obvious. XD**

**Well I did it again. What was going to be 1 chapter is being split into two. Next chapter (coming next week) should round out my plans for the desert. And shall also really start revving things up.**

**Thanks again for the reviews! I love hearing from you, as could be expected. Also, here's an announcement-I'm starting another chapter fanfiction in my off-time. Title pending, it's going to be named Universal Aura, and it's going to follow a "sticker" (who happens to be one of my all-time favorite video game characters) and the smasher she helps. It'll delve into the job of the stickers and such, and the sticker in question's transition from what she thought was normal into what really is-a world like stuff that would only be in stories.**

**Cheers!**

**MoD**

**P.S. I watched Kick-Ass the other night. I was shocked at how much I loved it. The Oscars owe me a hell of a lot of explanations. **


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5-Lonely Sinking Feeling

~Snake's Narration~

I was correct. I don't sleep well; in fact, worse than if I had never slept at all. My sleep was halfhearted and active due to my dreams. My dreams had me running, running, running. And I had no idea from what.

Okay, I guess that's a lie, I do know what, but that's the last thing I want to dwell on. I just wish by now it would just dissipate, but it never will.

After I wake up I put my sleeping bag away and see that everyone else has awakened as well. I grab my bag, Luigi does the same, and Meta Knight picks up his sword, and without a word, we march on.

For hours and hours nothing happens, and the silence is deafening. I don't know why everything was silent-not only ourselves, but there was no wind, no life, nothing. Even our footsteps were muted by sand.

After awhile I start to get a little nervous. After a bit of deliberation, I simply state the word "Testing."

Luigi looks at me. "What prompted you to say that?"

I simply say "I wanted to make sure I could still hear."

Luigi simply nods. And then we're back to silence.

About an hour later we go into rougher territory. The sand has gotten soppy like mud. It takes larger steps to get further through it. When I'm knee deep into this mud-sand, it hits me.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are in quicksand."

Meta Knight was flying above us at the time, and instantly he growls in determination as he flies down and extends his hand out to us. Unfortunately he has really short arms and can't reach us without getting his cape stuck into the quicksand, as it tries to drag him down. We were pretty far into the sand so solider ground was a ways away. We start to sink faster so that was time we don't have to fly over, remove his cape and then come back for us. "Hell damn it!" curses Meta Knight as his eyes glow a narrow red. He takes a split second to think and says "Luigi! Grab onto Galaxia!" as he lowers the sword to him. It makes sense to me; Luigi was shorter and therefore is farther into the sand. Luigi struggles for a second but he gets his arms up and onto the sword. Meta Knight starts pulling as hard as he can but it's not helping much.

Panicked, Luigi asks "Can't you pull any harder?"

Meta's tone is a bit pained. "For God's sake, Luigi, I'm not exactly the most muscular of species! I'm doing the best I can! Try pushing on the sand a bit!"

"Pushing on the sand?"

"Yes! It's loose sand but it's somewhat solid, right?"

Luigi takes a second to feel his footing and says "A little bit!"

Meta Knight replies with a bit of strain. "Then... push!"

Luigi complies. Slowly he starts to rise out of the sand, with his bag in tow. Then, he pops out suddenly, flying a bit in the air over Meta Knight's head.

"Whoa!" Meta cries out, trying to re-stabilize. Slowly, he starts flying to solid ground, calling behind him "I'll be back as soon as I can, Snake! Just hold on!"

"Will do, Meta!" I call back, as I try the method of pushing myself out. My boots were a bit of a help but I didn't get very far. My bag was way down there so I put a bit of focus on pulling it up considering half my stuff was in there. It takes a lot of energy to bring it above the surface- I end up focusing on that so hard that I started to sink myself again, and I had to try and push up a bit. When my bag hit the surface I knew that I was gonna have to get rid of some stuff, much to my chagrin. I tossed out a third of my gun ammo, a couple of grenades, and then prepare to reluctantly throw out my Cypher camera-

That's it! My Cypher! My God, why in the endless, untamed bounties of stupidity didn't I think of that before? I put my bag over my shoulder, get the Cypher out and turn it on, holding on tight. The fan blade starts to whirr and I wait for it to start pulling me out.

Easier said than done. Using a small flying camera to pull me, a 200 pound man, out of quicksand, is like using a go-kart to pull a F-150 out of a ditch. But slowly, inch by inch, I started to pull out of the goop, bag in tow, until I was completely out. "Yes!" I cheer quietly; glad to be rising above the mess of doom.

Unfortunately, the Cypher decides to be a bastard and start to float down with a nasty-sounding clink in the fan. "No, no, no, no, no!" I shout, and instinctively, I start pumping my legs as if I was on a swing set to keep me afloat. It then starts to behave again and floats back up, and I swear to god the fan whirring sounded like it was laughing at me. Damned possessed robot camera.

About five minutes in, I rendezvous with Meta in midair. He nods and starts to fly in a similar direction as I am, and I take it as a cue to follow him back to Luigi. I steer across the rest of the pit and back onto solid ground when I see Luigi chilling out, leaning against his suitcase and reading his book. As if he wasn't about to die. I have to honestly say, this guy's a pretty good leader.

He grins slightly upon seeing me and says "Good improvisation, Snake."

Meta Knight nods and adds "To be honest, I don't know why I didn't think of that. If I had more of a backbone, it'd be aching like a hellion." After a brief pause, he adds with an awkward chuckle, "In literal terms, of course."

I laugh at that, because we all know that out of the three of us, the badass plushy has the most backbone out of us.

"Anyway, gentlemen, I think I shall take a short flight. Partially because I want to work out the aches in my muscles, but mostly because I think a bit of reconnaissance may provide us with a game plan to get out of here." Meta Knight is, as usual, fifteen steps ahead of us in planning.

Eager to not be made to look like an idiot, I respond with "Good thinking. Have at it."

Meta nods and informs us "I shall be gone for twenty minutes. I'll see you upon my return."

Nodding, I watch as he shoots off into the sky at light speed. I sit back against my bag and take a bit of consideration before I approach the next subject. Before I do, though, Luigi mutters "Bleh, this book is getting seriously twisted."

"Dare I ask?"

"No, you don't."

"Actually-"

"Okay, let's just say…"

To keep it PC, I'll leave that line out but believe me, I won't be reading Girl With The Dragon Tattoo anytime soon. Being from Earth, I've been a big pioneer in bringing Earth pop culture to this world, but this one I'd have been fine with staying there.

"Yeah, good call. I should have kept my mouth shut."

"It's actually a decent book otherwise."

"Yeah, have fun with that." I mutter. "Anyway, I was going to mention what I thought about the Halberd incident."

"Oh joy." Luigi says, sighing forlornly.

"It's actually kind of important," I insist. "I've come to a conclusion that the Halberd was a thousand ton battleship that was brilliance to engineering. There's no way in hell that it simply got screwed over in a sandstorm."

"Then what do you propose, Snake?"

"I call it the Eggplant Witch theory. And that theory is a somewhat complicated metaphor. The Halberd doesn't just drop like a vegetable on its own. There's some sort of black magic, some twisted deity behind this. And I'm willing to bet that this person's the guy out for our heads." I explain.

"You have a point," he replies. "That's actually a pretty good theory that I'm sure took you fifteen minutes to find a witty title."

I laugh at that, mostly because it's true.

"Damn," Luigi sighs. "I need to step up my game, because I'm being one hell of a leader, what with my contribution of next to nothing."

I get up and say "Hey, don't be so hard on yourself. You're doing a good job."

Luigi chuckles, standing up. "Really?"

"Dude, trust me." I continue. "Just because someone can take a whole species out with a grenade or fly at the speed of light or scare the shit out of you behind a mask doesn't make them bona fide leaders. You're a good planner; you're chill and keep us balanced. You know what you're doing and hell, you took the initiative to go out here besides the fact that you're a self-proclaimed scaredy-cat. That says a lot. You're doing a good job bro."

Luigi chuckles. "Thanks. Heh, I must look like Bella Swan fishing for compliments like that."

"Naw, dude." I say, instinctively pulling him in for one of those manly chest bump things somewhat similar to a hug, but _is not a hug. _"You could totally use that, I could tell."

"Gentlemen," I hear the deep voice jolting our moment into fine metaphorical dust. Hesitating a bit, almost apologetically (considering this is Meta though I doubt this) he continues with "I believe I have found our ticket out of here, by the end of the night."

Jaw drop to the floor. Everybody walk the dinosaur.

"…elaborate."

**A/N- This is, for all who read this, the first of two new chapters again. God's sake I write every chapter 8,000 words long and have to break them up into segments. But yeah, I explained the occasional pop culture reference that will not be abused as those are cheapening- I try to use them somewhat intelligently.**

**Also, I want to take some time out and say a resounding THANK YOU for all the amazing feedback I got for Voice of the Mute. What I composed on a whim has become a flagship for my fanfiction career. Truly, I was stunned and humbled to see that I could do this- it's humbling because it lets you know that these are your roots and no matter how big you get they'll always be there even if you topple over and die and even if you get cut down.**

**Also, there's a bit more language than I expected- I only swear if I think it fits the scene or moment and never otherwise. Not just throwing out F bombs for the lulz. Doger.**

**But yeah, there's another chapter that's twice the size of this one's length- if you could take the time to read it that'd be great.**

**Thanks!**

**MoD**

**P.S.- EggplantWitch- Hi! **


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6- Back on a Mission**

**God Help Me it's an A/N before the story.**

**If you pressed the last chapter button to get here- this is not the first new chapter. Go one before to get what you missed. Also, there'll be an action scene to rock the ages. Here's some music- www. Youtube. Com /watch?v=jL7zs1F5VpI (remove spaces) for when the action starts to get to its kickass-ction. XD**

**Don't let me keep you here go go go go!**

"About a 10 minute walk from here is almost what one would consider a town center of the desert, or at least an outpost." Meta is busy explaining a plan on getting the hell out of here. "There's a nice oasis, a pyramid and some merchants and even a couple of huts. And at the oasis, there's a group of camels. Problem is, they're already owned."

"Well, pardon me for playing optimist, but think they'd assist us if we share our cause?" Luigi asks.

"Considering they threw hammers, of all things, at me, I doubt that theory is real," Meta replies.

"Hammer Bros," Luigi pieces it together. "Bastards. They looked somewhat like turtles?"

"I couldn't tell, they were covered head to toe in desert clothes save for eye slots, but yes, that could be imagined so."

"I have a plan," Luigi declares out of the blue.

"That was fast," Surprisingly, Meta takes a line I would have said.

"Okay, so we need two camels, presuming Meta Knight has no qualms with flying," Luigi begins.

"And I don't," Meta interjected.

"In that case, two camels. I imagine there's more than that, so I say we should attempt to cut their camels loose. But Hammer Bros are notoriously athletic, so there's a good chance they'll get them back and hunt us down. Therefore, we launch a counterattack."

Taking time to leap in the air (an impressive twelve feat by my estimations), he addresses this point with "I'm a pretty good gymnast and fighter so I can probably take them out directly. Snake, you're a good shot so stay with the camels and get them from a distance, but for the love of God don't shoot us. Meta, you can launch some sword moves on them but I'm assigning you the task of making sure that my camel doesn't stray from the course while I'm gone. Once all of the Hammer Bros are taken out, we pursue on. However, I do think it may be beneficial to take one with us as a hostage. Whoever this deity attacking us is, I believe that these people must be working for him, or else they wouldn't know to attack Meta Knight. Me I understand but not Meta." He faces us again and says "Are we cool?"

I pat him on the back and say "Damn good leading there, Luigi."

"I try," he responds, a proud lilt on his voice.

"Indeed," Meta adds. "I believe we shall be successful."

Luigi starts blazing a trail down the hill towards the outpost. "Then onward we go. Prepare for success, gentlemen!"

God, there's no way either of us couldn't be enthusiastic.

~Luigi's Narrative~

We enter the outpost, and follow Meta through the outpost, trying to be stealthy at it. Snake's good at this; if he screwed this up I'd probably punch his nose in. He stops us before we make for the oasis and whispers "We need to make sure that we don't bolt or look desperate for the oasis or camels. We don't wanna draw their attention. Also, Luigi, you said they know you? You need a disguise. Mostly it's the green that gives you away so I'm gonna give you this sweater." He digs in his bag, which seemed to be as endless as the stomach of that illiterate penguin on a cartoon I watched with Lucas one boring day. Out comes a grey sweater. I throw it on.

"They already know I'm trouble," Meta states. "And I doubt that a sweater's going to fix that."

"Well…" Snake hesitates, before sighing and revealing his plan, "I'm going to have to undignify you and hide you in my bag."

Meta Knight stands there blankly. "It's set in stone now. You're insane."

"Hey, we don't have a lot of options. It's either that or you take your mask off and make you up to pass as some random Pokémon."

"Bag it is," he states quick as a whip. I almost chuckle but hold it in. He climbs in, and the whole scene looks like a big-lipped alligator moment, and I'm a second away from bursting out in laughter. "Leave the top open, though, so I may access the fight if necessary." He requests.

Snake nods. "I'm in somewhat of civilian clothes so I should look average. Now, Luigi, we need to walk around the oasis casually. We're admiring the beauty of the desert."

"Don't make me laugh. This desert is as welcoming as the guards to Bowser's castle."

"Well pretend you're somewhere you want to be," he says impatiently, summarizing the helpfulness of my bitching. As soon as he says that, I crawl into my mind spontaneously, finding myself in my imagination on my patio, listening to the harp as it airily goes through multiple notes like it was nothing. I see people walking by the fountain, holding hands and laughing. I see-

"Luigi, I said pretend, not actually going there," Snake has a hand on his forehead in defeat.

"My bad."

We start to walk around the lake, and Snake prompts me to make small talk. I shrug and say "Dave, with an oasis like this, you'd wonder why they don't just put an airport here and make it a tourist destination."

"Now, Jacob, don't get greedy," he chuckles. "Some people prefer untamed beauty, and not a polluted oasis."

"Damn. Got me there."

"I guess. But yeah, it is nice."

Personally I'm surprisingly annoyed to be near the oasis. I just don't want to be near another damned grain of sand- the sooner we leave the better.

We make our way to the camels under Snake's pretext of "Dude, check these out. Never ran into an actual camel before; you know, outside the zoo."

"The majestic beasts of the desert," I state in mock fascination. "It's not gonna spit in my face, is it?"

Meta Knight interjects, somewhat muffled. "Those are alpacas, Luigi,"

Worried, I whisper "As much as I thank you for that actual answer to my question, you're supposed to stay silent, remember?"

Meta Knight mutters an annoyed obscenity, clearly humiliated.

I glance at the Hammer Bros. They seem to be turned away, so I said "Now!" Without getting any permission, I take Galaxia and sever the ties to all five of the camels. Snake and I leap onto them as they make panicked noises, Meta Knight reaching from the bag and taking his sword back hastily. As I predicted, our cover was blown, and I heard the Hammer Bros shout with a Koopish accent amongst each other.

"Those fools!"

"They're stealing our camels!"

"The Almighty Ones will not be pleased with us!"

I still don't think they recognized who we are, though, so we just kept going. Looking behind, I saw one of the Hammer Bros grab his camel and chase after us.

"One's coming!" Snake shouts at me from a short ways away.

"We can take him!" I reply.

Sure, we can take one. But when we pass the pyramid of the area, a simple, frill-less brick structure, which was surrounded by twenty similar looking Bros, all with camels.

My eyes widen, my pupils shrink and I yell out "Oh my god, there's a whole army of them!"

Breathing heavily, Snake digs into his backpack and shouts "Showtime!"

Indeed it is.

Meta Knight flies out of the bag and keeps steady with our camels, waiting for us before joining the fray. It is when Snake gets out his gun and I crouch on the camel, standing with my hands on its hump does he fly out and shout "Charge!"

And thus starts the fight. I leap off and onto the sand, flying a good distance away from the others as we separate. The camels make a charge for me, but I let them come. I decide to confuse them so I look to my side, kicking the sand in front of me as if I totally don't comprehend their stampede. That was mostly for fun, actually. When they're within ten feet of me I leap up, over their heads, looking below me as they stare back in absolute shock. I have a pretty low falling speed so I was able to land on one of the rear camels of the cavalry, kicking its occupant under the chin, up in the air and to the ground.

Whipping the camel to speed it up, I start to catch up to the others. When I'm between a few others, I get their attention by stating "Nice afternoon, gents?" with a grin and wave. Furiously, they get out a couple of hammers to throw. Waiting till _just _the right moment, when the hammers are in the air, I jump. The Hammer Bros on my left and right are each knocked out by each other's hammers, and they fall off their camels.

Grinning with my eyes narrowed, I notice more camels are starting to skid to a halt, kicking up sand, and starting to double back for me. I continue to charge on anyways. One would think they'd find this suspicious, but their bloodlust precedes them and they come towards me. Timing it right again, I mutter "Sorry, boy," to the camel as I kick off of it, leaping above the cavalry as they crash into the poor thing, all piling up against each other. One could say my fighting skill could be based off of slapstick influences. I guess that could be true; it works, after all.

As I stand on the sand again, I notice Meta Knight has just finished using Galaxia to knock a bloodied Hammer Bro to the sand, the camel fleeing, panicked. He nods at me and declares "Impressive, Luigi. I do not remember you wielding so much skill."

Naturally. "Thanks. Same to you, Meta."

With this going on, I'm nearly knocked off my feet as something whizzes supersonically by my ear. Jumping with a yelp, I swat at my ear as if that's going to help. I look behind me and notice a Hammer Bro, hammer in hand, getting ready to throw. Or at least was, but now he is slumping over, eyes rolled back, into the dirt unceremoniously.

"Damn it, Snake! Scared the shit out of me!" I shout.

"You're welcome!" he calls back gleefully. I can't see him that well, but he's one of the specks off in the distance.

"Luigi, I daresay we have some leftover soldiers to finish off?" Meta draws my attention back to the fight.

Getting my head back into the game, I reply "That we do." In fact, some of the distant traces of the cavalry are starting to surround him and me. I start to run, and he gets his sword out and heads in the opposite direction.

Two of the five I target from a distance. They're close enough to each other so it seems I could kill two birds with one stone. None of the Hammer Bros seem to have picked up that grouping up and charging at once just makes it easier to take them out yet, so I humor them, stopping to crouch. I place my hand in my back pocket and give a short squeeze. On the object in my pocket, for further clarification.

I see that they are getting their hammers out. Perfect, it's as if I was directing this. I let them take aim and then throw. The hammers get closer, closer, closer to my head, and my hands are still in my pocket. They're just about to make contact with my chest when I reach out and grab them.

Now, when I grab the hammers, their owners start to panic and gallop in another direction. Normally, it'd take more than their own hammers to scare them off, even if I did just pull a Neo on them and caught them out of nowhere. But I had just finished consulting the fire flower in my pocket and my gloved hands caught the hammers afire, making them much more lethal.

I'm not about to let them go, so I take a jump into the air, getting about ten feet. Then I take another immediately afterward to gain more height, making it fifteen feet up. Taking a short running start, I put every ounce of effort into my third jump, and this one's a doozy, I make it twenty-five feet up, towering above the others a considerable distance. I take the hammers, and throw them at the camels themselves. One of them hits the camel in the rear, and it jumps onto its back legs, falling over on its rider. The other hits the rider itself, hitting its center of gravity in some way that causes it to launch into the air a considerable distance, and then fall on the ground. An effective Meteor Spike, if I do say so myself.

I coordinate my landing so that I land on the last nearby occupied camel, descending slowly as my hands lose their flame. I get ready to land a kick on his face when he reaches his arm out and shoves into my chest before I hit ground, causing me to fall behind the camel. I grab onto the creature's tail as we sprint through the sands, me dragging it up with my skidding feet. I yank myself up, to resume the fight, but he is already standing on a hump, waiting for me.

I'm able to land in a quick jab to his face, toppling him just enough for him to lose balance and buy me time back up onto the camel's back. I throw a punch towards to his head, but I should have seen from the instant he didn't bother to defend himself that it was a bad idea. I hit his helmet, which stops me short and causes my knuckles to throb with pain from the hard surface. I jerk away, embarrassed, and stand defensive again.

It's a standoff of Old Town Movie proportions between us for a half-minute, us plotting attacks on each other. I notice Meta Knight in a distance engaged in a fight against another, and I see a third Hammer Bro fall to the sand, clearly shot. I was on my own.

I then come up with a risky plan that seemed by now my only resort. I reach across to land a punch to the side of his temple, which he successfully dodges. But by doing so he tumbles off the camel onto the sand, landing on his feet. But his delay is all the time I need as I grab his cloak, pulling him toward me in a death grip.

"Who are you working for?" I demand quietly, my voice laced with malice.

"You're a damn fool if you think I'm going to tell you." He spits back snidely.

"Really?" I take the cowl off the top of his head and wrap it around his neck amid his protests. As I squeeze it around his neck threateningly, I mutter "This is not something I do for fun, but I'm starved for an answer and you're going to give it to me. Now tell me, who do you work for? I know your damned king is not around so don't cop out with that, you bitch."

He chokes desperately, trying to come up with an answer. I loosen my grip ever so slightly on the scarf to let him gurgle out "The-the… almighty… ones."

"The almighty ones?" I reply. "What are they?"

"I… I don't know…"

"Lying ass." I squeeze again.

"No! I insist… they demand not to be seen… but have… powers beyond what the world has seen. They believe… their right… is to own the universe."

Damn. Another one of _those _villains. "Thank you. You're free to fly off like the little frightened bird you are." I squeeze my pocket again.

"Who…" he chokes out, "who are you?"

I smirk one last time, chuckling in a monotone. "Bingo. Ho ho ho."

"Wha-"

Before he can accuse me of who I am, I drop the scarf, and grab his shirt. I take my fiery fist and punch him under his jaw with a successful Fire Punch. He careens straight up in the air, barreling like a bottle rocket. I walk away from the scene as I hear him thump to the ground exactly where he stood before.

Seeing a camel, I hop on and make my way to the others, who are finished. Snake is on a camel and Meta Knight floats above, steadily flapping his wings.

"We've got them all," I breathe.

"Great," he grins. "We can get out of here now. Great job, all."

Relaxed at his words, I break out into a grin. "That was amazing. We did amazing!"

Meta chuckles at this. "We can recap how solidly we punished their fragile souls on our way out of this desert. Lead the way, Luigi?"

"With pleasure, Meta," I respond. I call out a "Hya!" at my camel, softly whipping it to get it going as we gallop across the desert, five times faster than we had before.

Two hours later found us fifty miles along, boasting our way through our recaps. There was many a soldier cut down by Meta's deftly wielded sword and by Snake's expert marksmanship.

Snake was finishing us off. "I learned a lot of what I knew by a legendary marksman in the deep woods of Appalachia by the name of Grit. He was about five years my senior but knew a world more than I did about gunfight battles. He had cut down many an evil man from fifty feet away. His victims never saw their killer. And I DAMN hope I did him proud."

I chuckle. "Gentlemen, we shall go down in legend. We shall be undefeated!"

"Good news for us," Meta is also unusually jovial, to a point; he's chuckled a few times. "I have an unshakable feeling that we shall solidly kick the asses of anyone standing in our way!"

I have to laugh at those choice words. "Good fight, Meta."

He does hesitate for a second to say "But the Almighty Ones will be a bit of a struggle. Unspeakable power and a hunger to take over the world. Then again, it's not the most original of ideas."

"Like the hundreds of superhero movies," Snake notes.

"Then again," I propose, "this could be the Christopher Nolan version of one- the true legendary success. The Dark Knight."

"The Dark Knight," Meta tries the name out. "I rather like that."

I nod. "Anyway, I see our next destination where we'll make camp. Get ready to end the day."

The others recuperate my nod as we speed up, approaching the area with a final rush. Finally, we enter grass and get in a half-mile deep before we stop. I get off causally, getting stuff out of my bag, but Snake stands there, mouth agape, as he stares forward to a snow-capped mountain another half-mile away. Even Meta is a bit surprised.

I chuckle, not looking over. "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to The Transition Clearing. This place is the transition from the stunning distance of the desert and Cool, Cool Mountain." They are still a bit surprised so I elaborate. "Not much is known about this place, but there's a forested area to the north, a tropical riverside to the south, and to the east and west, the desert and mountain. All the different temperatures make this one of the most pleasant climates and places of the kingdom. And this is the perfect place to make camp."

There's a stream nearby, so I say "Fill your bottles. Pure tap water." I precede to do the same. Snake dives in face-first for a few seconds, and pulls out with a sigh of content. "So nice."

Meta puts a hand in hesitantly, but then sighs as well and declares "Gentlemen, I love this place."

I grin. "Good spirits, guys. Now come on, let's eat, and toast to our success with the best water in the kingdom."

They get their bottles out and clink with mine, and declare "To success!"

An hour later, I make myself comfortable on the bed of soft grass. Even without a blanket it's still comfortable, as is the nature of the clearing. I close my eyes happily and drift off. I start to imagine home, my comfortable living room. I imagine Daisy, in a friendly game of chess with me. I easily beat her in three moves and she tosses the board off of the table with a growl. I look around, shocked, and we both start to laugh. I imagine the patio on my apartment, the beautiful view. And then I hear the harp symphony that provided a contemplative soundtrack to my racing thoughts.

And this time I really hear it. I bolt up, but luckily, Snake is asleep and Meta, who was known to not sleep (only to wait), is on a flight. So I get up, and instinctively follow my ears, darting into the forest. I blaze a trail around trees and over rocks until I end up in a wide clearing, the moonlight shining through.

For the first time, I see her.

She sits on a rock, playing the harp. Her eyes are closed but I can see the rest of her. Her hair is cropped to her neck, a color between brass and blonde. Her nose and lips are slim, stretched in a look of an unoccupied member of the world and a serene victim to an outside force of music. Her skin is not pale, not tan, but certainly not in between- I can't quite describe it. She's about as tall as I am, slim and small-chested. Her legs are very long, just over half of her body. I'll admit she was quite pretty. I watch as she plays effortlessly; I can tell she's a long ways away. It makes her seem a lot prettier.

Finally, on the finishing notes, she looks at me and smiles, still positioned on the harp. "Hi there, Luigi," she says quietly, in a slightly rough voice and accent I couldn't quite identify. "You're every bit as cute as I've heard you were." She giggles a bit, but not like a schoolgirl, but as someone who knows I was going to turn red at that and felt a sneaky accomplishment at that.

"Perhaps I should introduce myself," she continues. "Unfortunately, I can't, for my own name escapes me. Think I could trouble you for a word anyhoo?"

**A/N. This is where I start really getting enthusiastic.**

**Our mystery woman is going to me one of my favorite characters ever. I can't wait to explore her more. Also, the last main character shall be revealed next chapter- there will be many more characters but she'll be the last pivotal, frequent one until a future date far along- but best not to say more. I'll also enjoy writing her. Here's a hint- this character, previously with a gender that could be determined due to her being part of a species, is one of the largest forces in Luigi's life. Is a smasher. Care to guess?**

**But please don't review guesses on the mystery woman. I'd prefer to keep that under wraps.**

**Also, for a bit of fun- I thought I'd provide some voice actors for the characters. Yes, I see this as animated more than live-action, so I thought I'd share how I hear the story for those who hear dialogue as well in their head.**

**Snake and Falcon have notable voice actors, so I don't need to go into that; they do a fine job. **

**Luigi Segali-Johnny Depp. Cliché, hooray! Yes, everyone ref's this guy at one time or another, but I think he'd be a good match. He's not typical Depp material but has some similar undertones, and after hearing his work in the insanely terrific Rango, I think he matches the green man's nervous sensibility as well as his optimistic dedication. He just seems to fit well.**

**Meta Knight- James Earl Jones. DUH. This is Darth Vader and Mufasa. The best voice in the business and just what Meta Knight needs. The threatening yet subtle deep, rich voice of a warrior who's seen it all. I… do wonder what he'd sound like crying though.**

**Daisy-Grey DeLise. For those who don't know her, DeLise is arguably the most famous cartoon voice actress in the business. Her résumé consists of half of the cartoons of the last decade- psychotically wicked Vicky of Fairly Oddparents, cunning Azula of Avatar-The Last Airbender, down-to earth Goth Sam Manson of Danny Phantom fame, Daphne Blake of the 21****st**** century Scooby Doo series, just to name a few. After the first few shows you can pinpoint her voice in hundreds of cartoons and varying personalities, and she'd be perfect for the spunky tomboy princess of Sarasaland. **

**The woman with the harp-Cote De Pablo. NCIS fans grin and favorite. Ziva David of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service has just the accent I imagine for this lovely girl, but also the composed demeanor and occasional coy jab that she will have at disposal. Probably my most immediate choice.**

**I'll do the same for pretty much any new character in the series without a voice. **

**Considering this and five have been released on the same day, I really don't have much more to say. Except Rango is the best movie of the year thus far- not that I've seen any others, but I have a feeling this will be a strong contender for the best of the year. Beans is epic.**

**Anyway, have a good one all!**

**MoD**

**P.S.- Grit is not in Metal Gear Solid; he's from Advance Wars. A bit of AU tidbit I put in to show my dedication.**

**Also, the line about Meta Knight only waiting is a tribute to the epic Soundwave0107. XD**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7-Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand**

~Luigi's Narrative~

This was getting pretty strange. I had some of the pieces to the puzzle, but no way to start the connections.

"I… suppose," I respond to her. "If you would like a conversation. I have questions of my own."

I stood a good twenty feet away from her still. She smiles wanly and says "Take a seat, nervewracked voyager. I don't bite."

Unsteadily, I follow her suggestion, taking a seat closer and across from her on a tree stump. "Okay, I'd like to ask the questions."

"I do believe I requested a talk here?" she twiddles a piece of her haystrand-thin hair. "Therefore, I'd like to hold it."

I shrug. "I don't suppose it makes a difference. You and I probably have the same questions and intent."

"I believe so," she puts the harp down gently next to a piece of luggage, with loose strands on it. She then opens her eyes, and for the first time I see them. My own bugged as I beheld the unusual sight. They're actually quite stunning. They're a mix of a bright, glacier blue and a stark crimson, both sort of blended as if they're diagrams of mixing paint colors in a second grade schoolbook. On the left side of each iris is the glacier blue, and the center a deep violet. On the right side is the bright crimson. Hot, warm and cold.

While I'm looking at her eyes in wonder, I notice that she's looking at me as well. I draw back, feeling somewhat embarrassed, and look at her countenance. She has a coy smile on her face; I can see her examining me with a learning intrigue. She looks back up at me, and by now I'm looking back in my senses, and chuckles. "So we're done looking at each other now?"

"What? Oh, yeah, course," I mutter.

"So I'll go ahead and press start," she announces, with an interesting word choice. "I suppose you're wondering why I'm following you?"

"Most of all," I confirm. "And why you bolted from me at Snake's house."

"Oh, yes. You see, it's a bit of a long story."

"We have 7 hours until sunrise," I tell her. "We have time."

"Then I shall tell it to you," she states plainly. "I have a feeling you'll be very incredulous at this, but, hell, you asked for it."

She toys with another strand of her hair, and her eyes wander around the area, distracted as she tells her story. "You see, my life as I know it began 21 days ago. I know I lived longer than this, but I remember none of it. But, when I lost my memory, I gained insight to the future. The power of prophecy.

"My first vision of the future was small, but it was a confirmation. I saw car, careening off of a cliff; it crumpled in on itself until it was no bigger than a moving box at the bottom. The next thing I knew, I was on the street of a town I couldn't recognize, and all around the area everyone looked devastated, as if they had been hit hard by bad news. I pieced together that whoever this man was, his death was a hard blow to his community."

"The next day I turned on the news. To my surprise, I saw a shot of a car on the bottom of the same cliff, crushed into a box. The reporter announced that a Dr. Stewart had been killed in a horrific car accident. He mentioned that his hometown, who treasured him greatly, was shaken by his loss. That was a sudden confirmation of my vision of the previous night."

I nod when she finishes. "I heard of that. He's a good friend of Captain Falcon's, one of the biggest racers in the city. Or, was. Stewart was a pretty famous racer from what I heard."

She nods, focusing back on me. "You see, I had a vision; my first and only long term vision. And it was of you. Well, the first was in the short term. You were in your apartment, talking to a friend of yours. She had said something about Mario being kidnapped. You had said you'd go after him. Is that the reason you're out?"

I nod. "Exactly the reason you're out."

"The long term vision was you talking to her again, in a cabin up on a mountain. All I heard was 'They will literally stop at nothing. The fate of all that we know is in your hands.' And then I came to."

I was silent for a few seconds, taking it all in. "That's… more than I bargained for."

She nods again. "I'd understand. So, anyway, I decided to put my gift to good use. I tracked your mailing address on your website, and took watch on the roof. I played the harp as a signal so that way you'd find me again. When you left, I took advantage of a vision of you in Mute City and eventually found you. I played the harp again there to let you know that I was going to trail you and that you'd be seeing me again. I left as fast as I could because I knew now wasn't the time; not before the mission started. I play here tonight so that way I could integrate myself into your mission. After all, the world could be at stake."

I sigh. "I have a question for you."

"Fire away."

"How is it you remember a lot of stuff, like Mute City and Mario and who I am, even? I thought you lost your memories."

"Oh? Continuity error? Well, I should explain myself," she puts a hand under her chin and her elbow on her leg with a short yawn. "You see, I still have my academic knowledge and basic skills in check. I know all that I knew before about other things, like music and celebrities, history and civics. What I don't know is myself. I don't know anything about myself. I don't know what music I like and what celebrities intrigue me. I don't know if I ever played a role in history, or if I am a celebrity even. That last one may be wishful thinking, though," she winks, but then sighs forlornly, longing for a solution to relieve her troubles. "I don't even know my name or what to call myself."

I ponder this last statement for a bit and ask, "What about 'Strings'?"

"Come again?"

"Strings," I reiterate. "You're amazing at playing the harp. The way you move your fingers across the strings is, well, remarkable."

"Strings," she muses, trying the name out. "I am Strings. My name is Strings. Strings' the name, the future's my game. I like it."

"Strings it is, then," I concur.

"Luigi, before you go, I… do have a vision for you."

"Okay… fire away."

"It's… kind of a rough one," Strings says, her eyebrow cocked and an expression hard to determine. An expression that, after a bit of thinking, reminds me of an army captain breaking the news of a death to a housewife and young boy who spent the last year under the confidence that her husband and his father would return home safe and sound.

I suppose that comes from personal experience, though.

"Just… go ahead."

"Okay," she sighs again. "I saw you again, amidst wreckage and whiteness. You were lifting up chunks of wood and concrete, looking desperately for someone. You finally found them; lying limp on the ground. I couldn't see them well, just a fuzzy outline. You stood over their body, breaking down into sobs. All I heard was you saying 'I couldn't save you,' and the sound of a phone beeping a disconnected tone."

I sat there, stunned. Someone I knew was going to die; someone I cared about. And I wouldn't be able to do anything about it. This… couldn't happen.

"No," I whisper, surprised.

"Luigi, I know, it's hard-"

"_No!" _I shout this time. "This isn't going to happen! Something must be wrong, you couldn't have seen that!"

"Luigi, I did," Strings says frankly. "But you have to think of it in preventive measures."

"I can't, because it just… it can't happen!" I desperately counter.

"Luigi!" she raises her voice to match mine. "Snap out of it! Nothing will be accomplished if you-"

But I'm already leaving the area, hopping over a rock and fleeing, trying to deny this ever happened. To my utter disbelief, she calls back "I'll… see you tomorrow!"

_I highly fucking doubt it, _I think to myself in bitter anger.

#####################################################################################

I didn't sleep that night. I was there when Meta came back around two-thirty in the morning. He didn't say a word to me, or acknowledge me sitting there, eyes open, struggling to provide myself with steady breaths. He simply sits there, mask on, doing literally nothing but not sleeping.

It was around four-thirty when I convinced myself that Strings was definitely wrong, that there was no way this was going to happen.

At six-thirty, Snake woke up, stretching his arms and scrambling out of his sleeping bag. He looked at me, bags under my eyes and asks "Didn't sleep well?"

I shake my head. "Bad dreams," I explain with half-honesty.

"My total sympathy," he responds empathically. "Anyway, what are our plans?"

"About a two hour's hike up a nearby mountain trail is an Airship station, sort of like the ones in the Tournament's Rainbow Ride stage. It's an hour's ride up the mountain to the Summit Lodge atop Cool, Cool Mountain. Sort of a vacation retreat, but is an available and welcome rest point for travelers. I figure while there we can rest, recuperate, and I can get in touch with Daisy and give her a progress report."

"Sounds good," Snake grins. "I'd love to get my hands on a nice bottle of Coke."

"Well, if we can survive the trail, we can. It's an easy walk, just strenuous uphill."

"I think I can survive," Meta responds with a thin flippancy.

"I bet you can too. Anyway, let's pack off and head out. If you wanna take any last dips in the water before we go, go ahead. It's gonna be cold."

Before I finish, Snake's buried his head in the stream, and even Meta has his small feet dangling in. I can't help but chuckle a bit.

####################################################################################

I can't really say much about the hike. I was uneventful. No landslides, no random Yetis, no avalanche, just us walking an average hike through the snowy woods and having average conversation.

We make it to the Airship terminal at nine o'clock. Meta Knight studies the ships with curiosity, as far as I can tell anyway. I hear him mutter "Hmmm…" under his breath. I wonder what he's thinking; I can't tell his emotion even a minute bit.

We purchase our tickets and board the airship. Unlike the Rainbow Ride in the Tourneys, this one has a roof and window barriers, as well as seats. It's more of a shuttle than the quaint little boat in the sky.

We buckle up. I watch the two others look out the sky. I'm sure they've both ridden in something like this, but not around here. It's rather scenic, and you can see the clearing and the contrasting divide of desert and snow between the two. The Mushroom Kingdom is a beautiful place, really.

The hour's ride goes by quietly; Meta and Snake are both contemplatively observing the view, taking it in. I imagine it's nice to have a change of pace after the adrenaline-rushed day yesterday.

We arrive at the top. I thank our driver, a Kingdom Citizen Koopa with a conductor's hat and short orange hair. We have a pretty decent amount of pacifistic Koopas and other such creatures that prefer to integrate into the kingdom peacefully rather than bombard the everlasting shit out of it; such as the crew of Bandits that are working as spies for Daisy. This is more the work of Peach than of Bowser.

The Lodge itself is pretty well engineered. The vents inside pump pure oxygen like you'd see in a hyperbolic chamber. It keeps your breathing steady in the climate and even energizes you for ski runs.

We walk inside the nearby lodge. Snake's saying something about getting a cheeseburger and kicking his legs up and Meta Knight makes an even-toned quip about doing the same if he had any legs. I'm not really paying attention; I can swear I recognize a figure in the corner of the dining room sitting at a laptop on the table. The others don't really notice as I walk over towards the figure stealthily, trying not to make a fool out of myself if I'm wrong.

About halfway over I grin as my suspicions are confirmed. The figure is green, with a large tail with small scale plates on it. The woman is wearing a red business suit made up of a long skirt and button-down shirt, and her blazing, spiked red hair is visible above her large round nose comparable to a bowling ball; her own words, not mine. She looks up on her own accord, and then her large, green eyes recognize me from the remaining distance. She slams her laptop shut, scoots her chair out and then walks swiftly towards me. Before I can say anything, she wraps me in a large hug and a jovially growling laugh.

"Luigi! It's freaking terrific to see you here!" she says mid-laugh, squeezing me.

"Ah, Melanthe. The feeling's mutual," I reply, squeezing back lightly.

Melanthe is one of the most important people in my life. I knew her since birth; literally. She's the forty-five year old chief of the Yoshi Tribe ten years running, and will be for life most likely. Thirty years ago at the fresh age of fifteen, she spearheaded an underground effort to save myself and Mario from Kamek as babies, who was trying to kill us in order to protect a thirteen year old Bowser from us after his Magikoopa prophecy predicted us having many victories over him. That was the year that Kamek urged Bowser to start his revolution against the Mushroom King.

In short, she's the reason I'm alive. I'd say I owe my life to her, but she dismisses those claims saying that having me around is reward enough. She's become a sort of another motherly figure to me.

"So, what brings you here, Mel?" I ask.

"Oh, business, business, business," she replies lightly. "Having a meeting with some people of business unions. Trying to work out these conditions going on in Firemelon Bay; the workers have been given a hard time and I wanted to hear from them first hand. Hence, I invited them here to meet with them. They're preeeetty pissed at us. But, hey, I understand. I'd be pissed too."

It's also worth noting that Melanthe, as a leader, is regarded as one of the best by her people, and that's because she listens to them. She's fiercely protective of her fellow Yoshis and the interspecies immigrants that come to her tribe.

"Well, best of luck to that," I reply.

"So, sport," she replies with a smile, "what brings you here?"

I try to sidestep the issue a tad. "Well, my friends and I are here on a sort of mission." Before she can ask what it is, I add, "Would you like to see them?"

"Bring 'em over!" she responds with a grin.

"Snake! Meta! Over here!" I call. Snake brings his tray over and Meta, carrying nothing but a sheathed Galaxia over his shoulder, takes a seat at the table.

"You two!" her grin gets wider. "I sorta kinda remember you guys from the tourney! Snake, right? And… Mister Mystery!" she points at Meta with a devious grin on her face.

"Meta Knight," he replies coolly.

"Same difference!" she is unaffected by his words.

"Nice to see you, Mrs. Yoshi." Snake says, extending a hand out.

She takes the hand but cordially corrects him. "Whoa, dude. Mrs. Yoshi was my mother. And the biggest differences between my mother and I is that she's married and I'm still as young as ever. Call me Melanthe; don't be shy about it."

"Melanthe it is," he replies, a bit sheepishly.

"So, Luigi, what kind of mission are you guys on?" she asks, flipping open her laptop. "Oh, and I hope you don't mind me jotting a few things down; I'm a record-breaking multi-tasker. If only I had more arms."

I sigh, knowing she's going to flip when she hears this. "Well, uhm… how do I put this…"

"Mario's been kidnapped," Meta states it frankly.

Melanthe freezes in time, no longer typing at lightspeed. Her expression is one of shock. She slams her laptop so fast that I worry that she broke it. She looks directly at me and mouths "You're shitting me."

I shake my head.

"Mother…"

"I know, Mel, I know." I grab her hand.

She takes a breath with a growl, slams a fist on the table, and then regains her cool. "Okay, does anyone have chump change I could use?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I left my phone at home. I need to use the phone booth here and tell Milde to cancel my appointments for the next month or so."

"Mel, you've got a whole nation to attend to. You can't risk it-" I start, but I'm interrupted.

"Luigi, that is one of the most important things to me in this world," she starts firmly. "But it doesn't hold a candle to you and Mario. You two are practically my Godchildren. I'll be Goddamned to hell and come back with a sno-cone before I let anything happen to you."

With a pained, determined look, she goes on. "I ask again, do you have a half-coin?"

I dig in my pocket and pull out a coin that represents a half-coin, the equivalent of a half-dollar. It's basically a small coin that is made out of a less valuable substance. She accepts it and says "I'll be right back."

…_sound of a phone beeping a disconnected tone…_

The words from last night give me a visible jolt. Fearing premonitions, I tell Melanthe "Be careful, alright?"

"I'll try to be careful around the menacing phone booth," she gives me a wan grin. "Don't worry about me."

I sigh, realizing how foolish I look. "Long night," I explain half-heartedly.

She gives me another hug and says simply "You know I love ya, right Weeg?"

"Course," I say, slightly embarrassed. "I love you too, Mel."

She lets me go with a smile and walks towards the nearby phone booth. Fearing some sort of teasing from Snake that probably wouldn't happen anyway, I get my own phone out and dial Daisy's number.

As predicted, she picks up on the first ring. "Yo, Weeg, what's up?"

"Hey, Dais. There's a pretty big change of plans going on."

"Oh?" she sounds concerned. "What happened?"

"I don't know how, but we got a ride from Meta Knight, and his ship was destroyed right out of the sky. We abandoned ship in the Dry Dry Desert,"

"Jesus Chirst," she gasps. "Where are you now?"

"Well, Snake, Meta and I made it through the desert and The Transition Clearing, and now we're at the Cool, Cool Mountain's Summit Lodge, regrouping. Unfortunately, it looks as if we're going to be on our own for a lot of the way."

"God help us," she sighs. "Well, what else did you find out? Anything on our perp?"

"A bit," I reply. "We pieced together that an extraordinary force is likely behind this, I heard one of his lackeys call it 'The Almighty Ones.' "

"Whoa," I hear a thump that sounds like her dropping into a chair. "This is getting to be deeeeep shit."

"I know, I know."

"Luigi, I'll tell you what. You focus on getting Mario back, and I'll focus on getting a group together to go undercover and find out more about this 'Almighty Ones' group."

"Really? How?"

"Through a princess' connections," she responds, the gears in her head undoubtedly running at hyperspeed. "I know quite a few people who would be good warriors and agents. I'll get a band of powerful fighters together and we'll handle this."

"Wow, thanks, Dais," I chuckle. "This is great."

"Hey, it's the least I could do," she laughs. "And it's hella exciting. Anyway, I'll check in with you in a few days. You stay safe, alrighty, bro?"

"I will. You too, okay?"

"Will do," she says with a sigh. I respond with one as well. I think we're both feeling the same; it's always a bittersweet occasion when you know that this is the last time you'll talk to a dear friend in days, a brief respite from the battles and trials. And there's that nagging feeling that it could be the last one ever, a fear that you try and push back like a skeleton in the closet, but never really goes away.

"Alrighty, good luck, Luigi," she says, with a rare use of my full name.

"Same to you, Daisy," I say, knowing that we're trying to drag out the conversation.

"Buh-bye."

"Bye."

I wait until she hangs up before I put my phone away.

With another sigh, I walk towards the cafeteria, getting some food.

I look over the cooler of sandwiches somewhat near the phone booth, and I can hear Melanthe's loud, boisterous voice through the old-fashioned booth. "-yes, Milde, I know it's sudden, but this is a personal emergency that could affect the world… what do you mean, overdramatic?… yes, I need to leave ASAP. Give the worker's group my sincerest apologies and a rescheduling date, and ask them, for God's sake, not to start a riot."

I laugh at my godmother's way of handling politics as I pick a cheep-cheep fish sandwich. It's there that everything goes to shit.

For it's at that moment that I hear it. A large, rumbling sound that strikes fear in my heart. I don't even have the time to shout "Avalanche!" before it hits the lodge. No amount of engineering could ever have prepared us for it.

#####################################################################################

In ten seconds, it's all wrecked. Somehow I survived without a scratch, only God knows why. Maybe a window or the sky roof made it an easy escape. But the entire lodge is scattered and disassembled beyond recognition. Wood, concrete and glass are the majority of the wreckage but there is some equipment as well. I see a stove burner and vent pipes a little bit away.

I notice Snake unsteadily rise to his feet a distance away, and Meta floating above the mess with a few wing-flaps. I don't know how on earth anyone could have survived that. But we did-

Oh shit.

I frantically look around for any sign of her, throwing concrete and wood out my way. Anywhere. And I find it. The phone booth, with chunks of Plexiglas broken off, is a good twenty feet away. I leap over the wreckage as I approach it. I find a five coin in front of it and pick it up on a whim.

I break in the glass with my foot, and it falls onto Melanthe but doesn't hurt her any further. There's a large gash on her thigh, tearing through her skirt. Her face is somewhat bloody and her arm looks crushed.

"Mel!" I hiss, shaking her non-crushed shoulder rapidly.

"…P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way-" she mutters, dazed.

"Melanthe! Snap out of it!" I plead.

Her eye lazily creeps open and she says "Lui…gi…" She tries to move, but fails. "Am I alive?" she says, a bit inebriated but pleading all the same. She sees the money in my hand and chuckles at the irony and the song, and she adds weakly "…or thoughts that drift away?"

I nod, torn up inside. "Does summer come for everyone?"

_Can humans do what prophets say?_

That's when I get motivated. I try to lift her up, and somehow I succeed. Gingerly, I lift her out of the booth, tilting her so I can move her large tail out of the booth. I unsteadily walk over the wreckage, searching desperately for solid ground.

_Can humans do what prophets say? _I refused for what Strings said to pass. I would not do what she said would happen. I wouldn't stand there as my godmother died in front of me.

"You're going to live," I promise.

"Undoubtedly," she weakly chuckles.

_Can humans do what prophets say? _She insisted on my way out that I take preventive measures, to make sure this never happens. And I'd fight to my last breath to make sure that happens.

_Can humans do what prophets say? _As I carry Melanthe out of the rubble, her breath slow and blood seeping out despite my best efforts, I decide that I would not do what the prophet says, but that I would as well.

**A/N I was super eager to get this up. The coy, mysterious Strings is introduced and so is the boisterous, cheerful Melanthe. I think I'll clarify a few things about the latter; the former is to be in mystery still.**

**Melanthe is not an OC; I gathered the emotions and aspects of Yoshi as we know it and put it to my own interpretation of more realistic proportions, and created what I see our hero Yoshi as being. I know Yoshi's referred to as a male but I just couldn't un-see a badass woman Yoshi as the character. Yoshi's my favorite hero of all time; without his dedication there would be no Mario, even putting up with the crying fits. (I did make Bowser a bit older to fit in with the previously mentioned storyline.) And the thing is, for the most part Yoshi didn't know that Mario was going to be the ever-loving savior of the kingdoms. He (or she XD) did it because it felt like the right thing to do.**

**Also, as a voice actor, I would totally choose an unlikely person for her- Ellen DeGeneres. Come on this would be so great! She's got that same energy as Melanthe- I took a big influence from her to begin with. She's got the upbeat cheer, but it'd also be interesting to see her play Mel's intensity and anger, qualities not oft found in Ellen's work or in Ellen herself. It'd be a cool thing to see. **

**So, yeah, that's Melanthe. When you'd normally see Yoshi in a story of mine, you'd see Melanthe. To me, she is Yoshi. **

**And now, for the first time in, like, forever, I get to answer viewer reviews! Yay!**

**Eggplant Witch-Naw, I wasn't teasing you or glaring at you with a sneaky grin. It was actually a pat on the back for being observant. I had plans to bring that back up but you totally noticed it. Thumbs up.**

**WrathDraconian- Yeah, totally love the informality. I guess it makes sense to say that since I can't exactly publish this as a book (copyrights out the ass) this is a personal project, one that I'll print out and keep as a souvenir through the years. So I don't pay as much attention to tradition and write for myself (and you guys) more than anything.**

**Araceli L- …was the tense screw up in chapter 5? I realize I did in four but in five? O.o Also, as far as the POVs go, it for the most part will follow scene changes, but not always; sometimes it's good to see through other's POVs. I chose Snake for those chapters because I wanted to shape his character up a bit. Also, I'm seriously glad you liked Chapter 6, especially because usually action scenes can be a bit of an Achilles' heel. That review made my week. XD**

**Star Gamer-Well, wait no more, my state-the-obvious friend. *elbows playfully***

**So, yeah. Chapter 8 will be up soon. A bit of a change of pace for a bit. Also, for those who are wondering, this is going to be a 16-18 chapter story from the looks of it, and then there's going to be a book 2 to give more streamlining- this was all going to be one book but it'd be a freaking big book, as the unnamed part two will be the same length as the first. And due to my tendencies to oversize chapters 16-18 isn't even set in stone.**

**Either way, read, reviews, and enjoy! Also, if I calculated correctly, approximately 300 different people have read this story, and there are nearly 750 or so views! Wowwee!**

**MoD**

**P.S. The literary work that deserves my kudos this week is Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter. My god, I loved that book a lot more than I thought I would. **

**Also, look up the song "Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand" by Primitive Radio Gods. This is 90s gold. **


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